1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a game system technology whereby member players may play various games, including role-playing with the aim of achieving a set game goal, in a game space furnished on a server and accessible from players' data terminals via a network.
2. Description of the Related Art
To date, there are known in the art competitive games in which players use networkable data terminals (such as personal computers) to compete directly with one other or participate, via the network, in a same given stage in a sports, fighting or war game. In the area of role-playing games in which players assume roles of virtual actors in the game in order to participate in a virtual experience, there are also known character-training games, in which specific aptitudes of the players' virtual actors are improved through training and through competition with other virtual actors.
Also known are character-training games in which a number of aptitude parameters are set for each virtual actor, and players are posed various questions and prompted to respond and select selection branches; the skill parameters of a virtual actor associated with a player are modified in various ways depending on the appropriateness and content of these responses, to provide different character-training results among computer-controlled virtual actors.
In such games played over a network, game participants may be recruited, for example, by means of a game introduction page or the like accessible on a server, or by means of articles appearing in gaming magazines.
Conventional approaches that rely on a game introduction page or articles in gaming magazines have limited efficiency as a method for recruiting participants; particularly for games that are played most effectively with a large number of participants, the issue of how to recruit players is an important one.